Hawaii’s highs, lows for clean beaches

Queens of clean: Popular Kaʻanāpali Beach is among seven Maui beaches that were tested for contaminants at least monthly in 2012 and had no samples exceeding the state's maximum standards according to the NRDC's recent Testing the Waters report. less

Queens of clean: Popular Kaʻanāpali Beach is among seven Maui beaches that were tested for contaminants at least monthly in 2012 and had no samples exceeding the state's maximum standards according to the ... more

Photo: Jeanne Cooper / SFGate

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Viewed from the Four Seasons Maui, Wailea Beach is one of the top seven on the Valley Isle tested at least monthly for cleanliness.

Viewed from the Four Seasons Maui, Wailea Beach is one of the top seven on the Valley Isle tested at least monthly for cleanliness.

Photo: Jeanne Cooper / SFGate

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Not exactly a beach, but still popular with snorkelers and other visitors, the area called Kapoho Tidepools (officially Waiʻopae) is one of 15 shoreline areas on Hawaiʻi Island tested at least monthly with a perfect record. less

Not exactly a beach, but still popular with snorkelers and other visitors, the area called Kapoho Tidepools (officially Waiʻopae) is one of 15 shoreline areas on Hawaiʻi Island tested at least monthly with ... more

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Even more popular with visitors and locals is Hāpuna Beach, another of the Big Island's cleanest.

Even more popular with visitors and locals is Hāpuna Beach, another of the Big Island's cleanest.

Photo: Jeanne Cooper / SFGate

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Clean sweep: Holoholokai Beach Park (shown) near the Fairmont Orchid and Puakō, to which this shoreline trail leads, were also among Hawaiʻi Island's top 15 in water testing.

Clean sweep: Holoholokai Beach Park (shown) near the Fairmont Orchid and Puakō, to which this shoreline trail leads, were also among Hawaiʻi Island's top 15 in water testing.

Photo: Jeanne Cooper / SFGate

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It may not be a good swimming beach, but Nukoliʻi on Kauaʻi' is one of six on the Garden Isle tested for water purity at least a dozen times last year with a perfect record.

It may not be a good swimming beach, but Nukoliʻi on Kauaʻi' is one of six on the Garden Isle tested for water purity at least a dozen times last year with a perfect record.

Photo: Jeanne Cooper / SFGate

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Another Garden Island gem: Poʻipū Beach County Park, a major tourist draw on the South Shore that passed water testing 77 times last year.

Another Garden Island gem: Poʻipū Beach County Park, a major tourist draw on the South Shore that passed water testing 77 times last year.

Photo: Jeanne Cooper / SFGate

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The end of the road on Kauaʻi's North Shore leads to clean as a whistle Kēʻē Beach, tested 26 times last year with a perfect record.

The end of the road on Kauaʻi's North Shore leads to clean as a whistle Kēʻē Beach, tested 26 times last year with a perfect record.

Photo: Jeanne Cooper / SFGate

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Of the beaches regularly tested on O'ahu, only Makapuʻu and Sandy Beach (shown) had 100 percent clean water samples last year.

Of the beaches regularly tested on O'ahu, only Makapuʻu and Sandy Beach (shown) had 100 percent clean water samples last year.

Photo: Jeanne Cooper / SFGate

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Hawaii's highs, lows for clean beaches

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Hawaiʻi ranked fourth out of 30 states for beaches with clean water in National Resource Defense Council’s recently issued report, “Testing the Waters 2013,” which means “it’s doing pretty well in keeping its beaches clean,” NRDC spokeswoman Jessica Lass noted.

But unlike California’s ocean and bay shorelines, most of the 470 Hawaiian “beaches” recognized by the NRDC were not monitored or had fewer than 12 samples in 2012, the year covered by the report. The Clean Water Branch of Hawaii’s Department of Health administers the beachwater monitoring program, which tested waters regularly at 74 beaches.

Of those, 33 beaches had no samples exceeding state standards for contamination, 35 had 10 percent of fewer of samples exceed those standards, three had between 10 and 20 percent and three had more than 20 percent exceeding standards. And of the 736 beach closing/advisory days in total, 720 (98 percent) were due to stormwater runoff, with sewage spills/leaks accounting for the rest, according to the report.

So which beaches had the highest percentage of samples exceeding the daily maximum standard of contaminants? Drumroll please:

Hanamāʻulu Beach Park, Kauai (75%)

Waiʻulaʻula, Hawaiʻi (42%)

Kalihiwai Bay, Kauaʻi (21%)

ʻAnini Beach, Kauaʻi (17%)

Wailua Beach, Kauaʻi (13%)

Given that list, Kauaʻi County not surprisingly had the highest exceedance rate of the daily maximum standard in 2012 (7%), followed by Honolulu (3%), Hawaiʻi (2%), and Maui (2%) counties. Little used by visitors, Hanamāʻulu is hardly a surprise, though, as its Place Names of Hawaiʻi listing notes: “The bay waters are normally murky from the discharge of Hanamāʻulu Stream at the south end of the beach.” The name of Waiʻulaʻula — a small pocket of sand at the head of a gulch north of the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel — actually means ” red water,” according to Place Names of Hawaiʻi, suggesting a propensity for runoff.

Runoff from Kalihiwai Stream and Wailua River is undoubtedly a culprit in the appearance of popular surf spot Kalihiwai Bay and windy Wailua Beach on the list, while a Save Our Seas report from January notes of reef-fringed ʻAnini: “Many of the homes in the area are constructed with underground septic and/or cesspool tanks which leach raw sewage into the surrounding waters during high tides and periods of heavy rainfall.”

However, it should be stressed Kauaʻi and the other islands also boast a number of beaches — including some of the most popular with visitors and locals — that were frequently tested (at least monthly) and had zeropercent of their samples exceed state levels. Here are these queens of clean, with those tested more than two dozen times noted in parentheses: